Al Capone Does My Shirts discussion

The novel I chose for our seventh Goodreads review was Al Capone Does My Shirts, written by Gennifer Choldenko. The reason why I chose to read this novel is because Al Capone was my great uncle. Even though it is a fictional novel, I love reading novels based off of him because his life fascinates me. I have had so many questions about him and our relation but unfortunately all my relatives who knew him or knew about him have passed away. Relating to a novel makes it so much more interesting and makes me more engaged. This novel is about a man named Moose Flanagan, who moved to Alcatraz with his family where Al Capone was imprisoned. They moved to the island for his parent’s work. Moose has an older sister named Natalie, who has autism. Back then they did not call it autism, and their mother was desperately trying to find a “cure”. Natalie is suffering at her school and eventually can not come back. Moose wants to try to get her back into the school but has no idea how. Piper, the warden’s daughter, helps Moose write a letter to Al Capone asking for him to help Natalie get admitted back into the school. It works! When Moose received his laundry from the prison there was a note in his shirt that said “Done”. This novel is really fun to read. I loved reading about how dedicated Moose was to help his sister that no one really understands but himself. Overall, I would recommend this book because Alcatraz is really fascinating, and it is fun reading about famous criminals who were imprisoned there.